Suspected Philippine kidnap vessel found abandoned at Jolo port

Philippine authorities have found a boat they suspect was used by kidnappers to take a group of mainly Western hostages to an island stronghold of Islamic militants, the military said.

The vessel was abandoned at a port on Jolo, more than 500km from the Samal island resort where two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipina were abducted last week, Brigadier-General Alan Arrojado said.

Jolo is the main base of the Abu Sayyaf, an al-Qaeda-linked group that has been blamed for the Asian country's deadliest terror attacks, beheadings, and ransom kidnappings of foreign tourists and Christian missionaries.

"We have eyeballed the seacraft, but not the kidnap victims from Samal," Arrojado, head of a Jolo counter-terrorism task force, said. "They [local police] are sending us a picture for validation," Arrojado said after the authorities found the 25-metre outrigger at a port in the Jolo town of Parang.

Officials would not say if the discovery pointed to possible Abu Sayyaf involvement in the kidnapping of Canadian tourists John Ridsdel, 68, and Robert Hall, 50, as well as Norwegian resort manager Kjartan Sekkingstad, 56, and Hall's girlfriend Marites Flor.

No group has claimed responsibility or demanded ransom for the abductions, the military said.